“The other dog then appeared and both of them started having a go at me. They were biting me all over and pulled me to the ground as I tried to protect myself. The dogs’ owner eventually arrived on the scene and whipped one of the animals away with a lead and pulled the other off by its collar.”

Caleb, who lives in Bedworth, was taken by ambulance to University Hospital, Coventry, where he spent two days having his wounds cleaned and stitched. He was put on a drip and may still require plastic surgery.

Larna suffered abrasions to her legs and back and also needed hospital treatment. “The dogs were completely out of control,” she said. “The owner had been some distance away from them and did not even apologise.

“While Caleb was being bitten and wrestling with the dogs, I was screaming and crying. I am so grateful for what he did for me. He is my best friend at Ash Green School and is also now my hero, although I feel bad seeing how many bite marks he’s got all over his body.”

Caleb’s mum, Toni McEwan, said: “I’m really proud of my son - he deserves a medal. If Larna had been walking alone she could have been killed. They are both lucky not to have been more seriously injured.”

The incident, at 8.30pm last Wednesday, was similar to an attack in the same place just over 48 hours earlier - when Larna was bitten on the ankle by one of the dogs - and which has now led to an official complaint to Warwickshire Police.

Larna’s mum, Kirsty Adamson, said: “We are really angry, because this second, more serious, attack should have been prevented. When Larna came home on the Monday and told me she had been bitten by an Alsatian, which had been running free with another dog in a public place, I immediately reported it to the police.

“I was told to call at Nuneaton police station two days later to make a statement. I went there with Larna’s dad Dean - but the officer we spoke to just didn’t want to know. He was rude and arrogant and when we tried to make a point about why the incident was not being taken more seriously, he ordered us out of the station.

“I was so appalled by the way we were treated that I came home and went straight onto the police website to make a complaint. Then, incredibly, just a few hours later, I got a call from Larna to say she had been attacked again. This would not have happened if the police had responded properly to the initial report.”

It is understood that police officers have since interviewed the owner of the dogs.

A spokesman for Warwickshire Police said: “We are treating this complaint of misconduct very seriously. The force’s Professional Standards department will be instigating a thorough investigation into this. Meanwhile, a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the allegation about the dog is also underway.”